Another City, Not My Own

Rating:
Summary: loved it
Review: just sent a personal fan letter to Dominick Dunne. I know I was one of the total strangers he met on Madison Ave as written on page 1. what a thrill to read that paragraph. I thoroughly enjoyed the gossipy text of the book. It was great entertainment for a horrific time in our culture.

Rating:
Summary: A dishy look at the OJ trial vis a vis the Hollywood scene.
Review: As a woman, I've always viewed the O.J. murder trial as gender-based, not race-based. And upon the reading of the verdict, I felt betrayed and abandoned by our justice system and the people of this country. This book, as written by an author I already admire and enjoy, made me feel vindicated - as well as wickedly fascinated - when he gave voice to the complex feelings I felt while at the same time focusing on the deeply layered relationships and personal histories within the entertainment industry.Bravo, Dominick!

Rating:
Summary: This is a book about D. Dunne, not about OJ Simpson
Review: Anyone buying this book with the hope of getting an account of what happened in LA at the murder and/or at the trial will be disappointed. You will instead learn -- and learn well -- how popular the author is with rich and famous people.

Throughout the book, the author alludes to two works he would like to complete: a novel on the Simpson murder and a memoir. This particular work seems to be more the latter. That being the case, I am hopeful that Mr. Dunne will yet write a novel on the case.

I simply was not interested in the story behind the story; nor was I interested in Mr. Dunne's personal background. I want THE STORY ITSELF. I bought the book because Mr. Dunne provided the most interesting accounts during the trial. If Mr. Dunne does write an account of OJ and Nicole's relationship and his theory on what happened that night -- rather than focusing in on the trial segment -- I believe it would be an outstanding book.

Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment !
Review: Having been fascinated by Mr. Dunnes television comentaries on the Simpson case, I looked forward to this book. What a disappointment! Mr.Dunne, with his acess to the trial participants,plus his personal experiance as a crime victim could have written THE book on the Simpson Murders.Instead,we got a book which was as shallow as Gus Bailey's Hollywood cronies. I suspect that Dominic Dunne was so disgusted , rightly so, in the outcome of the trial that his heart wasn't in this book.Perhaps because he had publicly said during the trial that he was going to write this book he felt obligated to do so.I for one,wish he hadn't. Kevin J. Morgan

Rating:
Summary: Good beginning and middle, goofy in the last few pages...
Review: I was an OJ trial junkie all the way from the white Bronco chase through the civil verdict. Dominick Dunne seems to capture the essence of the trial from the point of view of the 'rich and famous'...people who knew OJ and whose circles of friends overlapped with him. I literally could not put the book down...one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in a long time. The book seems to be Dunne's fictionalized autobiography. I'm not sure if all the events in the book really did occur, but it was written as a novel, so I just accepted them as part of the story. The only fly in the ointment of the entire book is the introduction of Andrew Cunanan, and how he figures into the end of the book. Not to give anything away, but it seems as though Cunanan was a last minute add-in that allowed Dunne to give the book the kind of ending he wanted to. Other than that, it was great!

Rating:
Summary: If you enjoyed the other OJ books..........
Review: You'll love this one. Another City Not My Own does not offer another review of all the details and scientific evidence relating to the the OJ Trial. There are already numerous books that have done a sufficient job of presenting the "facts". This book instead lets the reader revisit the circus that was the trial through the eyes of someone who was actually there. The tidbits relating to all the social events the storyteller participates in while reporting on the trial help to keep the reader turning the pages, while at the same time manage to convey just how caught up in this trial the country seemed to be. There is just enough glamour, glitz and Hollywood in the story to create a fictional feel to the entire story. For those of us, who like the author, feel that the outcome of the trial was a grave miscarriage of justice, it is easier to view the actual real-life events as fiction, rather than the sad truth they are.

Rating:
Summary: Not his best book, but engrossing just the same.
Review: This is pretty light-weight stuff, considering the amount of time Dunne spent in the courtroom during the trial of the century. I enjoyed the book thoroughly; since Dominick Dunne is the twentieth century's most famous writer of the roman a clef, and the name-dropper supreme it is full of titillating info (much of it quite dated) about the rich and famous. It's really a memoir in the form of a novel (not the reverse, as the title suggests.) There is actually not very much about the trial, and a great deal about all of the wealthy, famous, titled people he knows who were salivating for behind the scenes tidbits. I was hoping for something a little more penetrating than this, which is a diary of social engagements more than anything else. High-class tabloid writing (social class, not quality of writing)with a good dose of gossip columnist as well. Not his best book, but engrossing just the same. And, of course, very convenient that it is supposed to be fiction, so he doesn't have to be responsible for the accuracy of all the dirt he dishes.

Rating:
Summary: Outrage for the elite at its most biting
Review: I just finished "Another City, Not My Own" in 2 days. Mr. Dunne shares the same frustration and outrage most of us carry for the rich and infamous. It is a perfect follow up to such stories as "A Season In Purgatory" and "An Inconvenient Woman." A wonderful and ironic account of the case given the most undeserving title of "trial of the century." Thank you, Dominick

Rating:
Summary: Just when you think you had enough of O.J....
Review: I was surprised that I liked Another City, Not my Own as much as I did. I was expecting to be gossipy, but I was touched by Gus Bailey's comaprison of his daughter being murdered(Based on Dunne's daughter actress Dominique Dunne's murder fifteen years ago) If nothing else, the family scenes are great, and there is new stuff about O.J. Judge Ito, and the rest of the O.J. circus that I didn't even know. A good Saturday night read, and it reminds you: There are four victims in this media frenzy; Nicole Brown, Ron Goldman, and Syndney and Justin Simpson, who will never know for sure if their father killed their mother.

Rating:
Summary: Fun and Fury At the Trial of the Century
Review: Only Dominick Dunne could combine truth, fiction, frivolity and fury in one novel. Or is it a memoir? Along with enumerable tales of dinner seated between the rich and famous Dunne, who had a front row seat for the length of the Simpson trial, unleashes his anger at a system that sentenced his daughter's killer to less than two years in prison. People talk to Dunne (or his alter ego, Gus Bailey - whoever you choose to believe). Folks not willing to "get involved" in the trial tell him their secrets, be it bloody sheets found in the garbage or Simpson's gift of a bag full of knives. Gus knows things, and soon we are privileged to know them, too. They are gossipy and delicious, and learning these inside stories along with Gus's friends Nancy (Reagan), Liz (Taylor) et.al. gives a vicarious thrill.

How this frivolity mixes with outrage over the murder (and Dunne's unwavering believe in Simpson's guilt) is a tribute to Dunne's talent. Only a weak and tacked on ending mars Dunne's juggling act. Not Dunne's best work, but certainly one of his most interesting.